Thursday, October 11, 2012

Too drunk to be found guilty

A St. John’s man at the centre of a drunken Christmas time rampage discovered Wednesday it sometimes pays to be too intoxicated.

A Newfoundland provincial court judge found Anthony Tilley not guilty of breaking into a home — next to his beleaguered former girlfriend’s place — with intent to assault the neighbour because he was too loaded to form the intent.

“(He was) found not guilty because of intoxication,” Crown prosecutor Dana Sullivan told the Toronto Star.

But Tilley’s defence of drunkenness fell flat on a host of other charges connected to the one-man wrecking spree that spilled out his then-girlfriend’s home.

“There were two counts of assault with a weapon (knives). He was convicted of both of those,” Sullivan said. “He was convicted of mischief for damaging property within his girlfriend’s home, he was convicted of mischief for damaging the neighbour’s home … and he was convicted of breach (of) probation.”